1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a bag with caster wheels, and in particular to a bag having a vertically movable handle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bags with caster wheels each having an extractive handle have been developed and widely used. Many types of the bags with this structure are each small enough to carry it on an airplane or a little larger than this. The bags with this structure are described in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,487, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 4-76686, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 57-179824, and Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 63-131634. The bags described in these publications are each provided with two caster wheels 41 on one side of a bottom surface as shown in FIG. 1. On the opposite side of the caster wheels 41, short legs 42 are fixed. When the bag is in a vertically standing position, the caster wheels 41 and the legs 42 are in contact with a floor. In this state, since the legs 42 which do not rotate are in contact, the bag vertically stands on its own in an unmoved state. Furthermore, a handle 43 is provided in an extractable manner from an upper surface of the bag for pulling and moving the bag. Since the bag is pulled and moved in an inclined state, the handle 43 is provided on the same side as that of the caster wheels 41.
The bag with this structure can be moved in an inclined state by pulling the handle 43 as shown in FIG. 1. When the bag is inclined, the caster wheels 41 are brought into contact with the floor and the legs 42 leave the floor. In this state, pulling the handle 43 allows the caster wheels 41 to rotate, so that the bag can be moved with ease. However, in the bag moved in this manner, in some cases, the caster wheels 41 cannot be used in narrow or crowded places such as a flight cabin. This is because if the bag is moved with the caster wheels 41, a lateral width of the bag becomes larger, and thus, the bag cannot be moved freely in narrow aisles between seats in the cabin or in crowded places. When the caster wheels 41 cannot be used, the bag needs to be lifted with hands for moving. When lifted with hands for moving, the bag can be moved in a direction indicated by arrow A in FIG. 1 so as not to increase the lateral wide.
The structure of a bag with the caster wheels should be convenient for moving a heavy bag lightly and easily. This is because an even heavy bag can be moved easily with the caster wheels. Accordingly, in order to solve the above-described problem, the present inventor has developed a bag with a structure shown in FIG. 2 (Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-117829). The bag in this figure has caster wheels 241 mounted on a bottom surface of a case body 244. The caster wheels 241 are provided at four corner regions of the bottom surface so that the case body 244 stands on its own in a vertical position. A gripping part 243A of a handle 243 is located above the case body 244 and at the center thereof, in a right-and-left direction. The bag with this structure is not inclined for moving as in the bag in FIG. 1. The bag is moved in a vertically standing position in a direction indicated by arrow in FIG. 2. Moving the bag in the direction indicated by arrow allows moving with a lateral width narrowed. Therefore, the bag has a feature that it can be moved conveniently in a flight cabin or in crowded places. Furthermore, if free swiveling castes wheels capable of moving in any direction are used as the four caster wheels 241, the bag can be moved in a vertical position in any direction. The bag in a vertical position does not apply any of its weight to the handle 243. Therefore, an even extremely heavy bag can be easily moved simply by pushing.
The bag with this structure can be moved lightly and easily with the four caster wheels by pushing the gripping part of the handle. However, since this bag with this structure has the handle mounted at the center, telescopic rods 245 of the handle 243 need to be fixed inside of the case body 244, as shown in a sectional view of FIG. 3. The telescopic rods 245 has the gripping part 243A disposed at the center of the case body 244 in the right-and-left direction, and thus, are fixed in a state in which they penetrate the center of the case body 244 in the right-and-left direction, that is, the center in a thickness direction. In the bag with this structure, the telescopic rods 245 are disturbing, and make it difficult to effectively use the inside of the case body 244.
The present inventor has developed a bag depicted in FIG. 4 for the purpose of solving the above-described problem or the like (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-137022).
This bag is provided with caster wheels 441 at four corner regions on a bottom surface of a case body 444, and further telescopic rods 445 are fixed on a side surface of this case body 444. The telescopic rods 445 are structured so that a handle 443 can be extracted upward, and a gripping part 443A is provided at upper ends of the telescopic rods 445. The telescopic rods 445 are curved so that the gripping part 443A is located at the center of an upper surface of the case body 444 in the right-and-left direction with the telescopic rods 445 pulled up from the case body 444.